The Hidden Risks of Flying
Pilots of the last two fatal commercial airline flights in the U.S. trained at a school run by Gulfstream International. That company owns a carrier that the FAA has proposed fining $1.3 million for multiple violations. (March 2010)

Plundering the Amazon
Alcoa and Cargill have bypassed laws designed to prevent destruction of the world's largest rain forest, Brazilian prosecutors say. The damage wrought by scores of companies is robbing the earth of its best shield against global warming. (Sept 2009)

Washington's Other Handout
While taxpayers and lawmakers fret about the $700 billion bank bailout, the Treasury and Commerce departments are among a list of agencies that waste as much as $100 billion a year on contracts, often managed in secret. (March 2009)

China in Africa: Young Workers,
Deadly Mines
Children in Congo risk their lives digging cobalt and copper ore with their bare hands for Chinese companies. (Sept 2008)

Busting the Chip Cartel
U.S. antitrust prosecutors sent 15 executives from four companies to jail for price fixing of memory chips. There was a rub: The collusion failed. (June 2008)

The Subprime in the Schoolhouse
The mortgage contagion has hit state-run investment pools that handle $200 billion in funds for schools and cities. Taxpayers are in the dark. (Jan 2008)

Ethanol's Deadly Brew
Thousands of Brazilian sugar cane workers are injured and scores die each year in the rush to produce a fuel that Presidents Bush and Lula celebrate as a path to energy independence. (Nov 2007)

Unsafe Havens
U.S. money market funds have invested $11 billion in subprime debt, much of it managed by Bear Stearns. (Oct 2007)

The Insurance Hoax
Property insurers use secret tactics to cheat customers out of payments—as profits break records. McKinsey's advice to Allstate: Use "boxing gloves" instead of "good hands."
(Sept 2007)

The [redacted] Bailout of AIG
A document the New York Fed fought to keep secret shows what's missing from the public debate about the taxpayer rescue of the insurer.

Capital Group Under Siege
Investors fled from the company's American Funds after they underperformed their peers. The firm vows to stick with its 79-year-old style of active stock picking.

Crisis at Coutts
The venerable British private bank, now part of Royal Bank of Scotland, is fending off angry customers--and lawmakers who say taxpayers shouldn't subsidize an institution that caters to the rich.

Disney Ups the Ante
Robert Iger is spending billions--buying video game makers and refreshing theme parks--to appeal to tech-savvy kids.

Taking Aim @ Apple
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, stung by the iPhone, is turning to maps and music to restore the shine on the Finnish giant's mobile phones--and its stock price.